‘Britain not at back of queue’

Hammond rejects protectionist EU agenda

BRUSSELS, Sept 14, (Agencies): A trade agreement with post-Brexit Britain is a priority for the European Union and the United Kingdom will not have to wait in line behind others for talks to start, a senior European Commissioner said on Thursday.

“I’ve read papers that sometimes refer to some of us saying that the UK is the last possible partner with whom we want to negotiate trade. Forget this nonsense,” Jyrki Katainen, one of six Commission vice-presidents at the EU executive, told a news conference.

The EU has insisted that it will only begin negotiations about future economic relations with Britain once enough progress has been achieved on divorce matters, namely the rights of citizens, a payment by Britain to the EU and on the Northern Ireland border.

“As soon as we know when we can start negotiating about the future arrangement, (trade) negotiations will start then. There’s no political priority that we want to keep the UK as the last in the queue,” Katainen said.

The European Union in July struck a preliminary trade deal with Japan and is aiming to conclude talks with Mexico and the Mercosur countries — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - by the end of the year.

Further negotiations are underway with a range of countries and regions across the world and the bloc hopes to start and finish talks with Australia and New Zealand in the next two years.

Britain will reject “protectionist” agendas from the European Union in favour of “forward-leaning” proposals when it comes to supervising crossborder financial markets after Brexit, UK finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday.

Britain, the bloc’s biggest financial centre, acknowledged there are legitimate concerns among its European partners about the oversight and supervision of financial markets after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, Hammond said.

“We will address them by making forward-leaning proposals for greater transparency, cooperation, and agreed standards based on international norms,” he told the first annual dinner of UK Finance, a new industry body launched this year.

“But, let me be clear, we will not accept protectionist agendas, disguised as arguments about financial stability,” Hammond said in his speech at the Mansion House in London’s “Square Mile” financial district.

Brussels has proposed that important foreign clearing houses that handle large amounts of euro denominated trades will require joint supervision by EU and UK authorities to ensure euro zone financial stability.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May will travel to Italy next week to make a major speech on Brexit, Downing Street said on Wednesday.

“On Friday, Sept 22, the prime minister will give a speech in Florence to update on Brexit negotiations so far,” her spokesman said.

“She will underline the government’s wish for a deep and special partnership with the European Union once the UK leaves the EU.”

Choice

Asked about the choice of venue, he said: “The prime minister wanted to give a speech on the UK’s future relationship with Europe in its historical heart.

“The UK has had deep cultural and economic ties spanning centuries with Florence, a city known for its historical trading power.

“As the UK leaves the EU, we will retain those close ties. As the prime minister has said many times, we are leaving the EU not Europe.”

May gave formal notification to Brussels of Britain’s intention to leave the 28-nation bloc in March, starting the two-year countdown to Brexit.

But negotiations with the EU are proceeding slowly, as both sides grapple over the extent of Britain’s financial obligations, the rights of European citizens and the issue of the Irish border.

In related news, hundreds of EU nationals living in Britain were Wednesday joined for the first time by British citizens living in the EU for a day of protest in London to demand that MPs protect their rights after Brexit.

Nicolas Hatton, co-founder of the 3Million lobby group, told AFP that the rights of citizens should be “ringfenced from the rest of the negotiations”.

Hatton, a Frenchman who settled in Britain 22 years ago, said the campaign was aimed at “basically keeping the same rights as we have now”.

As part of the protest, EU citizens living in Britain contacted their local MPs and arranged to meet them in parliament on the same day in a “mass lobbying”.

The post-Brexit fate of around three million European citizens living in Britain and over one million UK nationals living in the EU is one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations on Britain’s withdrawal from the 28-member bloc.

Britain’s proposal to offer permanent rights over healthcare, education, welfare and pensions to Europeans who arrive before a cut-off date was branded “pathetic” by the3million group when it was unveiled in June.

EU leaders also slammed the proposal as insufficient.

A leaked official document posted on the Guardian newspaper’s website last week proposed a new system for EU citizens arriving after Brexit, with those wishing to stay long-term needing to apply for a two-year residence permit.

“The aim of today is really to raise the profile of our issues, especially for UK citizens living in the EU,” Jane Golding, chair of the British In Europe lobby group, told AFP.

“Understandably, EU citizens in the UK are much more present and people are more aware of their situation then ours,” the Germany-based British lawyer added.

“I think there seems to be a misconception that we’ll all be OK and our right will simply be confirmed”.

Negotiating teams for Britain and the EU are due to reconvene in Brussels at the end of the month for a fourth round of talks after Britain started a two-year countdown to Brexit in March.